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This is my very first book review (well, since I was in year 6 at primary school and I had to review the Babysitters club for my homework!) so I promise I will do my very best to not include any spoilers or give too much of the story away. If I do, please feel free to shout at me below!

This is the first book I have read by Melissa Hill and I have to say, I was not disappointed. The mystery of the charm bracelet really got me hooked from the start and I was keen to read on to find out more about its history. I love stories that link all of the characters together and this one did just that (I won’t say how as I’ll be breaking my promise!) but I would say if you liked Love Actually, then you would love this book too.

I got so absorbed in the story that I read it in 5 hours straight. In fact, the story has such an effect on me I decided that I was going to buy my very own charm bracelet and fill it with charms that would tell my life story. So, literally, that minute (I was on a plane and the duty free trolley came past!) I bought myself a new Pandora and my husband bought me my first 2 charms. (A crown because the way I carry on you would think I was royalty – his words not mine! And a present – as it was his gift to me) This type of behaviour is not unusual for me, I get so carried away with books that the fantasies I have been reading I have to turn into my reality – Steve was really screwed when I read the ‘I heart…’ series by Lindsey Kelk – I wanted to travel everywhere Angela had been (and I am very much working my way through the list as we speak!)

Anyway, back to The Charm Bracelet… The story follows Holly, a single parent, living in New York with her son. She was sent a charm bracelet years ago and regularly received charms from a mystery someone, each one commemorating something important in her life. When she discovers another bracelet similar to hers, she makes it her mission to find its owner and return it to them, knowing how precious she considers her own. I won’t spoil the ending, but even though I thought I might have figured it out, I have to admit, even I didn’t manage to work out the whole story – something that is quite rare for me as I over analyse everything. Melissa Hill writes a fabulous story of one woman’s quest – both for the owner of the charm bracelet and her own; add to that the backdrop of Christmas, which coupled with the romance that already exists when writing about New York City – the book in my opinion is a winner.

If you’re a fan of author’s such as Lindsey Kelk, Jenny Colgan and Sophie Kinsella (which I totally am, by the way!) then I would definitely recommend reading The Charm Bracelet. In fact, I’m going to start another Melissa Hill novel very soon.

After setting myself a challenge to read at least 30 books over the next six month (in order to smash my New Year’s Resolution out of the ball park!) I thought it was about time to start listing them (for proof) and also so I can review them for anyone who loves books and remotely cares about my opinion of them. So, here is a list of the books I have read to date and one by one, I will start adding my reviews under this section.

Last month I realised that there was only actually one New Year’s resolution out of the 10 I’d made in 2014 (see post: The one with all the New Years resolutions!) that I haven’t already broken. Says a lot about my willpower – I know.

However, in order to combat the fear of failing completely, I have a plan. Armed with the fact that I really want to hold onto the remaining resolution to ensure that when December 31st comes around, I can officially say I have kept a New Year’s resolution, I have decided to give myself a challenge… Between June 1st and December 31st there are 30.5 weeks. My challenge to myself it to have read at least 30 books by the time the clock strikes midnight on December 31st. (So basically, I have to read one book a week.)

Now, I know some people have been aiming to read 150 books this year, so 30 in 6 months hardly sounds like a challenge, but believe me, for me, especially nowadays, it is. In order to prove that I have read each of the books, I am going to review them on my blog and maybe even make some useful recommendations myself.

Now, to date I have read 8 – so I think I’m off to a good start. I am yet to post any of my reviews, but I will do it all in good time – I promise.

I have about 10 books lined up on my kindle already, but I’m very happy to be guided by suggestions from any book lovers out there. I am a bit of a chick lit fan (as you will see from my upcoming reviews) so any recommendations in this category would be very much appreciated.

So, I guess The only thing left for me to do is put the kettle on, make myself a cuppa and get reading (and writing shortly after!)